Thursday, December 13, 2007

We spent the weekend at the Rancho Las Palmas Resort at the kids first Feis. It was tiring but a lot of fun. Poor Kyle got stage fright and didn't dance at all. He was upset after and wanted them to start his competition over. Oh well-next time. Kieran was amazing. He's the goofiest, least motivated in dance class but he looked like an old pro on stage.

He took 3 third places and 4th in a special trophy dance. Kendra took 5th, 6th and 7th.

My soda bread didn't even place-I'm a big loser. All in all it was a great weekend. The kids are excited about their next feis. Probably in Orange County in February.

We got there Friday night to help get every thing ready. Paul helped build the dance floors and met a bunch of the other Dads. He's a "Feis Dad" now.

Saturday, December 1, 2007

We've really been getting in the holiday mood with special treats. Wednesday evening my sister and I took the kids to dinner at Dublin Square Irish Pub in downtown San Diego. Really good food and Guinness the way it should be, from the tap. Mmm Mmm good! Then we went to the Civic Theater and saw Lord of the Dance. Amazing! We'd seen it on DVD but to see and hear it live was so much better. It was also very cool because the kids could recognize steps that they do. We had a great time.

This afternoon the kids and I went to Holiday Jubilee at the California Center for the Arts. It was mostly Christmas carols and dancing. It reminded me of a cross between The Lawrence Welk Show and a Donny and Marie Christmas Special. It was fun though. We also got to see Santa and the city Christmas tree lighted.

Monday, November 26, 2007

Now I'm the only hold out for the Hawkins barforama. Paul threw up all day Saturday in Malibu while on a strike team. The nice residents of Malibu brought him all sorts of tummy settlers but it didn't help much. The guys lost him for awhile. They didn't realize he was on the floor of the engine in the fetal position. He came home yesterday and slept from 4:00pm till this morning. We think he's over the worst of it. Kyle and Kendra on the other hand stayed home from school today and filled buckets. They ate a tiny bit of dinner and haven't lost it yet. Maybe a good nights sleep and they'll be OK. My stomach is making scary sounds. I can't get sick. I'm the Mom. I'm not allowed to get sick.

Saturday, November 24, 2007

Kieran is sleeping at almost 9:30 in the morning. He's had some type of tummy bug since Tuesday. The first day he threw up at The Coffee Bean And Tea Leaf store-luckily on the outside patio, in the lingerie department of Wal-Mart, and then at home. Wednesday he was back to his normal self-Hooray, just a 24 hour bug. Thursday on our way out the door to my sister-in-law's house he tossed his cookies "near" the bathroom, in or rather on the bathroom and all over himself. Change of clothes and we'll try to get to Moreno Valley. We set off with two barf buckets, a roll of paper towels, rags and water bottles to swish out said bucket and the offensive mouth. We made it all the way to Bonsall before the first stop. Then I think we made it into Moreno Valley for stop number two. Kieran was OK all day, he didn't eat a lot and just lay around watching movies. What he did eat left him somewhere in Temecula I think, on the ride home.So far so good since then. I had to get a haircut yesterday-it's been 6 months! My "girl" moved to a shop in the mall. So, we had to go into the mall on the day after Thanksgiving. Aaahhhh! Gotta love the Irish luck. We got the first spot in front of the door on our first trip down a row! I took the pretty bucket with us. I was on a mission, I needed a haircut. We met a couple with their 1 year old triplets on the way to the salon. Kieran did fine although he made me carry the bucket. And he's still asleep. Hopefully he's at the end of this bug.

Friday, November 16, 2007

We decided to take out the window in our downstairs bedroom and put in French Doors. It's going to be a pool/mud room. We're planning on putting down tile so this will be the access to and from the pool.

Wednesday, November 14, 2007

This is "our" Coopers Hawk. I say ours because he is always on the light post outside our house or on the back fence or roof. He's quite a handsome fellow. I know, I know he's scoping out the bird feeders. He also likes mouse though and that's a good thing.

This is my San Onofre Nuclear Plant affected tomato plant. This is it's second growth. I cut it way back after it's first harvest of literally hundreds of tomatoes over the summer. It's not that impressive unless you take into consideration that the fence panel directly behind it is 6' x 8'wide.

One days harvest!

Have your kids brought home a seed in a cup yet? How nice, learning about how plants grow. This monstrosity taking over our back yard is/was Kyle's sprout in an 8oz plastic cup.

We went to the Harvest Festival at the Del Mar Fairgrounds yesterday just to get out. It was so crowded. And there was way too much fragile stuff for 6 little hands. I think I said, "Don't touch" about a gazillion times. Cool stuff but without the six-armed Octopus it would have been easier. Then again it would have been more expensive too if I could have concentrated.

Friday, November 9, 2007

Kyle lost one tooth a long time ago and it's already grown in. He's not happy about all the baby teeth. Kendra only has one space. Kieran on the other hand is going to be eating gruel soon. The silver in his mouth is not a filling. It's a space maintainer where he had a tooth pulled. It makes hole number four.

"I'm invisible. It all began to make sense, the blank stares, the lack of response, the way one of the kids will walk into the room while I'm on the phone and ask to be taken to the store. Inside I'm thinking, "Can't you see I'm on the phone?" Obviously not. No one can see if I'm on the phone, or cooking, or sweeping the floor, or even standing on my head in the corner, because no one can see me at all. I'm invisible. Some days I am only a pair of hands, nothing more: Can you fix this? Can you tie this? Can you open this? Some days I'm not a pair of hands; I'm not even a human being. I'm a clock to ask, "What time is it?" I'm a satellite guide to answer, "What number is the Disney Channel?" I'm a car to order, "Right around 5:30, please."I was certain that these were the hands that once held books and the eyes that studied history and the mind that graduated summa cum laude - but now they had disappeared into the peanut butter, never to be seen again. She's going, she's going... she's gone!One night, a group of us were having dinner, celebrating the return of a friend from England. Janice had just gotten back from a fabulous trip, and she was going on and on about the hotel she stayed in. I was sitting there, looking around at the others all put together so well. It was hard not to compare and feel sorry for myself as I looked down at my out-of-style dress; it was the only thing I could find that was clean. My unwashed hair was pulled up in a banana clip and I was afraid I could actually smell peanut butter in it.I was feeling pretty pathetic, when Janice turned to me with a beautifully wrapped package, and said, "I brought you this." It was a book on the great cathedrals of Europe. I wasn't exactly sure why she'd given it to me until I read her inscription: "To Charlotte, with admiration for the greatness of what you are building when no one sees."In the days ahead I would read - no, devour - the book. And I would discover what would become for me, four life-changing truths, after which I could pattern my work: No one can say who built the great cathedrals - we have no record of their names. These builders gave their whole lives for a work they would never see finished. They made great sacrifices and expected no credit. The passion of their building was fueled by their faith that the eyes of God saw everything.A legendary story in the book told of a rich man who came to visit the cathedral while it was being built, and he saw a workman carving a tiny bird on the inside of a beam. He was puzzled and asked the man, "Why are you spending so much time carving that bird into a beam that will be covered by the roof? No one will ever see it." And the workman replied, "Because God sees."I closed the book, feeling the missing piece fall into place. It was almost as if I heard God whispering to me, "I see you, Charlotte. I see the sacrifices you make every day, even when no one around you does. No act of kindness you've done, no sequin you've sewn on, no cupcake you've baked, is too small for me to notice and smile over. You are building a great cathedral, but you can't see right now what it will become."At times, my invisibility feels like an affliction. But it is not a disease that is erasing my life. It is the cure for the disease of my own self-centeredness. It is the antidote to my strong, stubborn pride. I keep the right perspective when I see myself as a great builder. As one of the people who show up at a job that they will never see finished, to work on something that their name will never be on. The writer of the book went so far as to say that no cathedrals could ever be built in our lifetime because there are so few people willing to sacrifice to that degree.When I really think about it, I don't want my son to tell the friend he's bringing home from college for Thanksgiving, "My mom gets up at 4 in the morning and bakes homemade pies, and then she hand bastes a turkey for three hours and presses all the linens for the table." That would mean I'd built a shrine or a monument to myself. I just want him to want to come home. And then, if there is anything more to say to his friend, to add, "You're going to love it there."As mothers, we are building great cathedrals. We cannot be seen if we're doing it right. And one day, it is very possible that the world will marvel, not only at what we have built, but at the beauty that has been added to the world by the sacrifices of invisible women.Live Simply.Love Generously.Care Deeply.Speak Kindly.Leave the rest to God.

Sunday, November 4, 2007

Kendra was away for the weekend. She got to spend time in Big Bear in my sister's cabin. Auntie is tired. She did crafts and manicures/pedicures, baked cookies, collected pine cones, walked the dogs, went shopping, roasted marshmallows and raked leaves.

So we had twin boys this weekend. It was kind of fun although there was a lot of scratching, burping and orifice emissions. We went into Fallbrook today to look at the fire damage. Is one still considered a lookie-loo if the outing is headed by a firefighter? We started by checking out Live Oak Park and found it untouched by the fire. All of the barbecues were covered though so they couldn't be used. We drove past the Valley Oaks Mobile Home Park. That was devastated. It looked like the streets of Baghdad. Kieran has had a little cold and cough. He's been doing a lot of snuffling and swallowing. It gave him an upset stomach so he tossed his cookies on the way home. It could have been disastrous since Kendra gets carsick and took the official barf bucket with her for the ride up to Big Bear. The Mommy instinct grabbed a bucket right before we got in the truck this morning, "just in case". He was fine after that and we ended the day with a Rite-Aid ice cream. Chocolate Malted Crunch-Mmmm.

Friday, November 2, 2007

Daddy got to come home at 4:00 pm on Halloween. Then he went back to work the next morning for 48 more hours. He'll be home tomorrow. We've been promised 8 days of no going to work. I barely have the motivation to breath. When that comes back I'll post Halloween pictures.

Tomorrow morning is a big day for Kieran. He will start taking Concerta. It's an ADHD med. He's finally been diagnosed with ADHD. I've know he's had it for at least 3 or 4 years. His teachers have always said, "No he doesn't have it". The reason is because he doesn't have the inattentive type that affects school. He has the hyperactive-impulsive type. Kieran is excited about starting the medication because he knows he can't calm himself without help anymore. Concerta is quick acting so hopefully we'll see results right away.Edit 11/03/07Halloween Ghoulies

Monday, October 29, 2007

Yes, it's Day 10 of no Daddy. Paul was on the list to start demobilizing to come home. And then "something happened" and they are now on their way to Corona to protect homes there from fire. He has no idea when this will end. I also heard the weather dude say that there is a chance for slight Santa Ana conditions to come back. I think I'm going to lose my mind.

And did I mention, there's no school again today!! Yes I know we are blessed because we have our home but I'm sooo tired.

And now this:

"My dear boy," answered the Dormouse to cheer him up a bit, "why worry now? What is done cannot be undone, you know. Fate has decreed that all lazy boys who come to hate books and schools and teachers and spend all their days with toys and games must sooner or later turn into donkeys"

Sunday, October 28, 2007

We went to the Wild Animal Park yesterday. They were re-opened and doing things for Halloween. The kids did a scavenger hunt all over the park and then got a handful of candy for their prize. They also made bats and ghosts in the new Discover Station area. The park was very empty. That was great. We wandered around slowly and lunch there. We watched the elephant show. Sunita didn't want to do the show the trainer was asking her to do. She made up her own. She walked along the balance beam and got up on the big tree stump all on her own. The trainers didn't know why she was doing this but it was fun to watch how her mind was working. We saw the Cheetah sisters being fed and then relaxing.

I like the new tram better. It's not as long but it's much closer to the animals. We got to see the devastation from the fire too. They literally stopped at the fence lines. The Animal Park has an amazing fire prevention system.

All in all it was a good day. It was so nice to be out. We are coughing a little more today though. Just that little bit of exertion I guess.